Search This Blog

Wednesday, 30 August 2017

Elections 2017: tabloid politics, peak scandal and campaign bloat

My first response
on reading about the “Winston Peters Superannuation Scandal” (because what else
are we calling it) was something along the lines “O.F.F.S, not again!” as
Mondays news delivered what promised to be another two weeks of my life that I
won’t get back.

But, after taking a
moment to calm down, I realized that my initial response had merely been a
knee jerk reaction, conditioned (like a drooling Pavlov dog) over the last few
months by the veritable avalanche of explosive political change and high wire
scandal that this once dull election campaign had morphed into; and that things
were not going to play out as they usually did.

To start with this
did not have the same catastrophic tone as other recent scandals, as an accidental
$18,000 oversight which was immediately paid back (Winston’s scenario) has a
lot less clout than announcing that you knowingly and willingly scammed the
system for funds which you never paid back and then further investigation reveals
that you also committed electoral fraud to boot (Meteria Turei’s scenario for example).

Second is that this
is Winston Peters we are talking about here: a long term political operator who
is as canny as a box of foxes and as wily as a coyote, who has survived numerous
attempts to take him down and lives and breathes political scandal (albeit that
he is usually the one dishing it up) in the same manner that we dutifully get
out of bed and go to work every morning.

So when I was asked
later that day about what I thought would happen my response was along the
lines of “small potatoes, he will survive” rather than “OMG! He is dead meat” (often
my previous response to such situations) and instead of immediately banging something out for this blog I decided to wait and see how things would play
out.

And Winston did not
disappoint as by the end of the first day he was already on the attack,
claiming that this was a hit job by National; denying the sum he repaid and turning
the questions back on Bill and the B Team in a master class of political
jujitsu which has seen the coverage of the last two days switch from Winston to
Bill English and his ministerial harem (Paula Bennet, Judith Collins and Anne
Tolley).

But I am not going
to be covering events on this matter any further (as they have had endless
coverage already) except to say that I was not the only one who thought this
was more than your usual "political explosion" and that this was another round of “dirty
politics” as usual, as many including both Chris Trotter, Tracy Watkins and myself (with my Neutralizing Winston post a few months back) have noted*.

What is worth
discussing here is that how Winston's superannuation scandal illustrates how the whole campaign has descended into a space
which has been dubbed “tabloid politics”: a steaming nexus of populist sentiment,
personality politics and media massaging that turns political coverage into
something like an Episode of the TV shows Survivor (Outwit, Outplay and Outlast)
or Game of Thrones (only one shall sit on it).

Of course we have
already seen such developments overseas (especially the US) but it still remains
surprising to see how fast it has metastasized in New Zealand this campaign.

The trajectory of the
recent political media in NZ (Tapegate; Labours student “interns”; Meteria Turei’s
benefit fraud; The fall of Andrew Little; The rise of Jacinda Ardern; The
rupture of the Greens and the final whimper of Peter Dunne) has shifted from
where reasoned analysis (or at least a clear link between politics, policy and politicians)
was the standard to becoming very similar to that of the tabloids I so enjoy reading
while waiting in the checkout line at Pak’n’Save.

We all know now how these
things are will play out: there is the initial breathless coverage, then
the swarm of media articles and blog posts discussing and dissecting the
matter, and all while the focus of the media’s attention twists and squirms
under its harsh glare and is laid bare, one detail at a time until there is
nothing left to report or something new is found to focus (or feed) on.

Thus, the
difference between a feud between some D-list celebutards and what passes for political
coverage during an election (and often day to day politics as well) narrows to
the point that you could swap out the names plus key details and the tone, content
(or lack thereof) and style of the work would be next to minimal; and no one
would notice if it what was happening in parliament was news or an episode of Shortland
Street.

And, at times, I
have been guilty of such offences and I understand why there are calls for “more
discussion on policy rather than personality” but this is not the first
election we have had such furore (previously it was Dirty Politics or Kim Dot
Com for example) and the current dynamic of modern media in a populist election
period is simply going to focus (positive or negative) on what generates
attention rather than what needs attention.

And such relentless
framing of politics and politicians though this tabloid lens has led to both campaign bloat and what I am calling peak scandal.

Campaign bloat,
both a physical and psychological condition, was first described by Hunter S.
Thompson in his classic book Fear and Loathing: on the campaign trail in 72 where he detailed the adrenal high
and subsequent crash that afflicted people (mostly political junkies like me)
who got too far into politics and politicians during an election campaign.

The symptoms of the
bloat are detailed here but suffice it to say that like any good addiction the
first hit is free and oh so sweet but it soon takes more and more of that “good
stuff” to get off on and soon you are either a hard core junkie or a trashed wreck
(or both). And once you are wrecked, your ability to react to or get a buzz off
whatever was juicing you up is gone and you’re numb to any further “shocking” revelations
which come down your news feed.

At this time, I am dangerously
close to that condition. I feel my hands clenching and unclenching as I grind
my teeth when I get that first sting of another twist in the saga of (insert politicians
name here) before losing all interest in the whole torrid affair, because there
are only so many torrid affairs one can have (and this is not my first), before reacting with indifference to the eventual fate of the situation which
leads to the next step in the process: peak scandal.

Like peak oil or
peak beard (or here) we have now hit peak scandal. For the public, already weary of the
brainless antics of political parties and politicians, the indifference has
grown to where being a politician is viewed as the same kind of career
direction and lifestyle choice as that of a child sex predator and no one
really cares any more (about the politician or the politics not the kids (they still care about the kids).

Peak scandal is
just that, we are now at the zenith (or nadir) of the populist political cycle this election and the chickens (or Chechens or Chihuahuas or whatever) are coming home to
roost as we near the moment of truth on polling day.

And when you mix
campaign bloat with peak scandal you get what we have in the US (with its hyper
partisan political and social situations) or Italy or Australia (with shifting
political instability as the norm) as both the general public and the political
junkies lose their taste for the once exotic flesh of politics and switch off
to learning the skills required to participate in a democracy (those of open
and reasoned debate mixed with tolerance and compromise).

And you might switch
off to politics but politics will not switch off to you. Politics will read
that indifference and stagnation and give you what you want in the form of
places like the US or Australia where its tweets from The Don 24/7 or burkas for breakfast with Pauline Hanson.

So, to help ease
back on this noxious potential outcome I am going to dedicate the last month of
my political coverage to avoiding any scandal**, no matter what, and to doing my
“gosh darned” best to keeping my blogging on an even keel until after polling
day.

But it won’t be
easy, as old (drug) habits die hard and the potential for the perpetual motion
engine that is populism, to crank out tectonic and paradigm shifting events is
nearing Sorcerer’s Apprentice levels of activity and with no sign of stopping.

Both you, the
reader and the media, can help in these circumstances by retaining a critical
edge when discussing politics and not “feed the beast”, so to speak. Don’t give
in to your vicarious urge to just watch the proceedings play out and then pass
moral judgement from on high or engage in “verbatim regurgitation”*** and
nothing else.

Instead take your
creative gushes and marry them with wit and intellect to balance out the
populist energy with something that advances the discussion forwards and not down into the troll cave.

I am a supporter of the
populist mood and tone of our times but I am not down with the trenchant anger
and partisan futility that emerges when the elites seek to hold back needed
change or when the public (often ticked off from seeing needed reform stifled by
said elites) remove themselves from the debate and desire nothing more than to be
spectators, or agitators, in the political process because that’s where peak
scandal, tabloid politics and campaign bloat come from.

*-For the record I do think this is the work of Nationals dirty politics crew because the timing is just too good to be true despite the protestation of Paula Bennet. They are probably not in ensconced as close as they used to be to the PMs office, to ensure "plausible deniability" of course, but if this is the best they can do they then its clear that the National Party brain trust spent more than $18,000 dollars on a bunch of low grade Law school drop outs who cant even get their weasel words right. Very low rent!

**-even if Bill “what’s
wrong with that man’s face Mummy?” English was to rip the flesh mask off to
reveal the reptilian underneath before charging into the crowd of reporters in the press room with the sole intent of tearing the head off at least one of them before Parliament security brought him down .

No comments:

Post a Comment

Itsa me!

Political pyromaniac; born again democrat; satirical connotator; fascist anarchist; relaxed conservative; focused liberal; consumer of truth, witch-hunter general of lies and putter of the praxis into perfect!